When should Tiago Ilori’s chance come?

LIVERPOOL FC have now played 9 competitive fixtures this season and Tiago Ilori still hasn’t made his first team debut.

In a recent interview for LFC magazine, the young Portuguese insisted he is happy to bide his time and that he’s still happy he made the right decision to join the Reds.

In truth he could hardly say anything else, but it’s understandable, in a position that often requires experience, that the likes of Toure, Skrtel, Agger and Sakho are ahead of him in the pecking order.

A bedding in period will certainly do him good while he acclimatises to tougher training against better opponents, and has the time to bulk up his rather skinny frame in the gym.

In the same interview Ilori mentioned his respect for retired Reds legend Jamie Carragher, but it was very clear that Franz Beckenbauer, ‘Der Kaiser’, was his real idol.

“I can be aggressive when I need to be but that’s not the main part of my game. I think I’m relatively quick. I like to come out with the ball and try to build play from the back. I also like to go forward for set-plays.

“You tend to look at your own position and I was always told about Franz Beckenbauer and saw lots of videos of him while I was growing up.

“I respect all defenders who have been able to have some success in the game but I would love to play like Beckenbauer.”

This is certainly a style of play more akin to Alan Hansen than Jamie Carragher, and if the young Ilori can marry defensive solidity with elegantly starting our attacks from the back, the Anfield faithful will be very pleased.

Presently our best passing centre-back, Daniel Agger, has a fight to get back into the team, and with Martin Kelly returning after a minor setback following some minutes in the Carling Cup defeat to Manchester United, there is likely to be even more competition from the subs bench, let alone the starting eleven.
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While our central defenders have played fairly well, in the main, this season, passing the ball out from the back has been an issue at times. When Southampton pressed very high our 4 centre-backs struggled on the ball, and a player who is calm and mobile on the ball, like Ilori, could help in such situations. Certainly in a 3 centre-back system, any defensive lapses if they did occur (as they do occasionally with say Skrtel) are less painful as there is more cover from the other 2 centre-backs.

I’m not advocating that Tiago start any time soon. At just 20 years old he’s got a lot of time ahead of him, the season is long and there can be a loss of form or injury to other players that may necessitate his introduction. However I would like him to be brought off the substitute bench if we are comfortably winning a game with say 15 minutes to go, just so he can get his debut out of the way and he doesn’t feel like he’s being marginalised.

Against Crystal Palace, when Daniel Agger came on for the impressive Sakho, I thought this might have been a good opportunity to blood Ilori.

With Liverpool being out of the Carling Cup so early, and not being in Europe on account of our poor season last time round, young Tiago may have a long time to wait until the FA Cup comes round before he gets a start. I’d hate for him to go half the season without even a sub appearance before being thrown in from the start in a physical game on a poor pitch against a good Championship side.

Hopefully in the next few weeks after the international break, we are winning games by large enough margins that Brendan Rodgers feels comfortable enough to give the boy a run out. I think this will be good for him, and better for Liverpool in the long term.

You can catch more from me on my own blog: http://taintlessred.blogspot.co.uk/

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